Monday, March 25, 2019

Intel's board of directors has extended Andy Bryant’s term as Intel chairman for one additional year, to help support Intel’s leadership transition.

If Bryant is re-elected at Intel’s 2019 annual stockholders’ meeting, his term as chairman would continue through the conclusion of Intel’s 2020 annual stockholders’ meeting. Bryant has informed the board that he does not expect to stand for re-election again in 2020.

“I am honored to be nominated to serve as a director and Intel’s chairman for another year,” Bryant said. “If re-elected by the stockholders at our annual meeting in May, I look forward to continuing to work with Bob, the board and the entire executive team to continue Intel’s historic transformation to a data-centric company. I expect this would be my last year of service as a member of Intel’s board.”

Sunday, March 24, 2019

BT, which currently operates street furniture concessions across nine local authorities (Glasgow, Cardiff, Brighton, Plymouth, Carlisle, Newcastle/Gateshead, Nottingham, Gloucester and Leicester), is proposing to end its exclusive agreements to encourage other local authorities and the wider industry to adopt an alternative ‘open access’ model.

BT says the current concession model favoured by many local authorities, which grant a single mobile operator or infrastructure provider exclusive access to council-owned street furniture such as lamp posts and CCTV columns, discourages investments from other operators and will stymie the rollout of 5G small cells.

Paul Ceely, Director of Network Strategy, BT Group, said: “While the concessions model made sense in the early 2010’s when it first came into common use, the market and regulatory landscape have changed and it’s become clear that exclusivity agreements act as a barrier to further 4G and 5G investments. Government initiatives such as the DCMS Barrier Busting taskforce are showing the way, but we believe that industry needs to act. We are leading the way by handing back exclusivity in nine key areas.

“The UK needs an alternative approach which sees industry and local authorities working together to share these street sites in an open and collaborative way. This will create the right environment for long-term investment and innovation in future mobile networks. We believe Open Access will be critical in ensuring the UK has the best mobile infrastructure in place to maintain its position as one of the world’s leading digital economies.”

BT’s mobile arm, EE, has already revealed the first 16 cities to benefit from the launch of 5G services later this year. London, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester will be the first flagship cities for 5G deployment this year, with parts of Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry and Bristol also set to benefit.

Car2MEC, a project funded by the Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs, wrapped two years of intensive trialing and testing by Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Fraunhofer ESK, MHP and Nokia on the A9 motorway digital test track in Germany.

The project mission was to gain insights into the value of MEC for connected driving with regards to technology and network architecture as well as economically. The project partners tested a number of different use cases on the A9 motorway, including "emergency warning", "end of jam warning", "variable speed limit assistant" and "HD maps".

For the motorway test set-up, Deutsche Telekom deployed two locally separated MEC nodes based on Nokia's technology. The testbed shared resources with the LTE live network and had been operated for 12 months allowing for extensive test drives. Fraunhofer ESK's hybrid communication units enabled a highly-efficient distributed messaging service (GeoService) on the multi-access edge nodes. MHP provided insights into MEC's value for connected driving from a business perspective.

"The project results validate the performance of edge computing over our 4G networks as a potential enabler for automotive cases that require low latency and ultra-high reliability," says Alexander Lautz, Senior Vice President 5G, Deutsche Telekom. "Going forward, we will continue to collaborate with partners in the automotive sector on the evolution of the technology and its application in connected and automated driving solutions that will deliver the best driving experience."

Uwe Puetzschler, Car2MEC project lead and head of Car2X at Nokia : "The results from this project mark a big step forward on the way to safe and automated driving. We have demonstrated that the Edge Cloud on top of 4G and 5G networks allows to deploy distributed applications that meet the requirements of the automotive industry in terms of latency and reliability. This will accelerate a commercial deployment of the technology."

The ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing group (MEC ISG) released the first set of its Phase 2 specifications, including ETSI GS MEC 002 which includes new requirements for Phase 2, ETSI GS MEC 003 dealing with architecture and framework, and ETSI GS MEC 009 giving general principles for service APIs.

The updated specs focus on the integration of NFV integration. The specification also describes example use cases and their technical benefits, for the purpose of deriving requirements. In addition, the release includes a report on MEC support for vehicle to infrastructure and vehicle to vehicle use cases.

“With this Release, the group continues to strengthen the leadership role that ETSI has played in edge computing since day one. I am proud of the quality of the work this team keeps delivering, making sure that the MEC marketplace evolves to an efficient, interoperable and open environment” says Alex Reznik, MEC ISG Chair.

Molex has joined the Networking for Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) Alliance, which was created to drive the ecosystem development required for the next generation of Multi-Gig Ethernet networking in vehicles. The NAV Alliance also provides a platform for the automotive industry to create innovative in-vehicle network infrastructure solutions for autonomous vehicles and facilitate wide deployment of networking technologies and products.

NAV was founded in July 2018 by Aquantia, Bosch, Continental, NVIDIA, and the Volkswagen Group of America.

“Molex is pleased to join the NAV Alliance and work closely with our industry peers who share our commitment to shaping the future of driving by creating in-vehicle network infrastructures for automotive OEMs and Tier One manufacturers developing the next-generation of connected vehicles,” stated Mike Gardner, director of advanced technology market development, Molex.

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Renesas and Integrated Device Technology confirmed that they received notification by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that the investigation of the companies’ proposed merger transaction is complete and that there are no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the transaction.

The companies have already received antitrust clearance decisions from authorities in China, Germany, Hungary, and South Korea. IDT stockholders have previously voted to adopt the merger agreement and approve the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders held on January 15, 2019.

Renesas Electronics Corporation of Japan has agreed to acquire Integrated Device Technology (IDT, NASDAQ: IDTI) for approximately US$6.7 billion (approximately 733.0 billion yen at an exchange rate of 110 yen to the dollar), combing two recognized leaders in embedded processors and analog mixed-signal semiconductors. IDT shares are to be acquired at a price of US$49.00 per share.

IDT, which is based in San Jose, California, is a leading supplier of analog mixed-signal products, including sensors, connectivity and wireless power. Renesas is the leading global supplier of microcontrollers, and a leader in analog & power and SoC products. The acquisition will provide Renesas with analog mixed-signal capabilities in embedded systems, including RF, advanced timing, memory interface & power management, optical interconnect, wireless power, and smart sensors.

The combination of these product lines with Renesas’ advanced MCUs and SoCs and power management ICs enables Renesas to offer comprehensive solutions that support the increasing demand of high data processing performance.

Renesas said it is working to expand its analog solution lineup and to strengthen its kit solution offerings that combine its microcontrollers (MCUs), system-on-chips (SoCs) and analog products. The company's focus domains include: the automotive segment, which is expected to see tremendous growth with autonomous driving and EV/HEV; industrial and infrastructure segments, which are expected to advance with Industry 4.0 and 5G wireless communications, as well as the fast-growing IoT segment.

Zayo has been selected leading cloud infrastructure provider to provide long-haul wavelengths connecting a new data center located on the West Coast.

Zayo's solution includes multiple 100G wavelengths, with fully diverse connectivity, meeting the provider’s requirements for highly reliable capacity to support current and future growth.

“Our fiber networks connect directly to the majority of third-party and enterprise-owned data centers, positioning us as the partner of choice for cloud infrastructure providers,” said Jack Waters, president of Zayo Networks and COO. “We look forward to building this important relationship and supporting this customer’s growth and success.”

KT is deploying Ericsson to enable the nationwide launch of commercial 5G services in Korea starting early April 2019.

Under this initial commercial contract – the first since Ericsson was selected as a 5G supplier to KT in November 2018 – Ericsson is providing 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and software from Ericsson’s complete 5G platform to cover KT’s 3.5 GHz Non-Standalone (NSA) network. Financial terms were not disclosed.
In addition to immersive media, KT’s 5G commercialization use case plans covers: smart factories; safety; drones; and connected vehicles.

Jinho Choi, Vice President, Access Network Design, KT, says: "Having worked successfully with Ericsson on 4G LTE, we are pleased to continue that partnership to make our 5G ambitions a reality with Ericsson’s leading 5G technology.

“Korea is one of the most competitive and technology-advanced markets in the world. By taking a global lead to enable nationwide commercial 5G services through commercially available 5G smartphones, KT is demonstrating our commitment to our customers and showing how we can drive a global 5G ecosystem where Korea plays a key role.”

Patrick Johansson, Head of Ericsson Korea, says: “We’ve worked with KT for many years to bring the very best mobile user experiences to its customers. Notably on 5G, we worked closely together to show the world what 5G could do during a major global winter sports event in 2018.

Zoom Video Communications filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The company is seeking to list its shares on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ZM.”

In its S-1, Zoom disclosed annual revenue of $330 million for its fiscal year ended 31-Janauary-2019, up from $151 million the year before, and up from $61 million two years ago. The company was founded in 2011 and is headed by founder, President, and CEO Eric S. Yuan.

Ericsson and SK Telecom signed a three-year MoU to build cloud-native solutions for predictable performance and high availability, enabled by state optimized design and the micro services architecture

Peo Lehto, Head of Solution Line Packet Core at Ericsson, says: “Cloud-native micro-services architecture gives simplified and more granular software life-cycle management, higher degrees of automation, and more robust operations based on common mechanisms like container-based light weight virtualization and orchestration such as Kubernetes.”

Jong-kwan Park, SVP, Head of 5GX Labs, SK Telecom, says: “After the successful launch of 5G NSA network, SK Telecom is preparing to migrate towards 5G SA networks to provide the latest and greatest technology and services to its customers. This joint collaboration with Ericsson on the next generation 5G SA Core and cloud native principles will not only enable us to introduce new services faster while at the same time improve our operational efficiency but also support higher availability through simplified operation.”

Thursday, March 21, 2019

DE-CIX has begun offering 400-GE access technology to its flagship Internet Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, which handles the highest peak exchange traffic in the world.

DE-CIX first introduced 100-GE access in 2013.

The expansion is being realized on the DE-CIX Apollon platform, which uses Nokia routers as one core component. The 400-GE Nokia line cards are now available in DE-CIX Frankfurt.

DE-CIX said it will make 400-GE available at further DE-CIX locations over time.

“With the introduction of the 400-GE access technology, we once again underscore our claim to be a technology leader,” says Dr. Thomas King, Chief Technology Officer at DE-CIX. “We offer our customers newest generation hardware and a modern, scalable infrastructure, which will also be able to meet all requirements in the future. At the same time, we support the growth of our customers at our worldwide locations with the new technology. Because the more data traffic they can exchange over us, the more the investment in our services will pay off.”

“We have happily served DE-CIX for over six years with our cutting-edge equipment,” says Ken Kutzler, Vice President of Nokia’s IP Routing Hardware business. “Our routing R&D is heavily driven by the fast-growing, high-quality throughput demands of customers like DE-CIX. Nokia is proud to be their partner and to help enable its first 400GE peering ports. Powered by the Nokia FP4 Chipset, DE-CIX can continue to expect deterministic loss-less performance, smooth operations and seamless upgrades as we move together into the future.”

Colt said that by allowing MSPs to share connectivity costs while maintaining individual service level agreements (SLAs), its 5G backhaul will help its MSP customers deliver 5G services to end-users faster and with lower subscription costs.

“We are focused on providing best-in-class, high bandwidth, on-demand connectivity solutions to meet our customers’ ever-growing business needs and the arrival of 5G presents exciting opportunities,” said Peter Coppens, Vice President, Product Portfolio at Colt. “We have worked closely with Cisco to design a network architecture that is simple to operate, highly available, and capable of delivering the innovative network services that are required for 5G.”

Cisco’s programmable-routing architecture for advanced 5G service enablement will enable the Colt IQ Network to be extended to customers directly using standards-based APIs. The companies describe this as a breakthrough in automation for next-generation 5G backhaul requirements, enabling self-provisioned bandwidth scaling and guaranteed SLA services or network slices based on latency and bandwidth demands.

“With every new mobile technology comes complexity, and 5G is no different. We are proud to support Colt as a strategic partner in its mission to simplify 5G deployments,” said Sumeet Arora, SVP and GM Service Provider RoutingCisco. “Cisco’s highly programmable segment routing architecture will enable Colt to lower the barriers of entry for MSPs, reducing costs and significantly speeding up the delivery of 5G services.”

Source Photonics inaugurated its new fabrication facility in Jintan, China.

The new Jintan facility will double Source Photonics’ capacity of Indium Phosphide (InP) lasers and related components. The fabrication plant includes a fully integrated laser chip production capability, high-precision TO operations, and an advanced R&D facility to support the company’s global technology roadmap and regional customers. Its chip capabilities include base wafer, regrowth, and chip processing, while its TO operations will support the advanced requirements emerging for high-speed PON and 5G markets.

The Jintan facility augments the company’s existing fab in Hsinchu in Taiwan, which has itself doubled its output over the past three years. Recent investments in the Taiwan facility include significant expansion in MOCVD and advanced coating technologies. The Taiwan facility also recently completed expansions to support transceiver assembly in support of customers’ demands for resiliency in their supply chains. Source Photonics said its manufacturing prowess is a key advantage in the optical communications industry in which a majority of manufacturers are fabless.

The 3M Expanded Beam Optical Ferrule uses a non-contact optical coupling in contrast to the more traditional physical contact methods. Together with the connector design, this helps to provide reduced sensitivity to dust, helping maintain signal integrity, and reducing the need for, and cost of, maintenance and cleaning.

It is available in single mode (1310 nm) and multimode (850 nm) versions. In single mode, insertion loss specification is <0 .70="" and="" db="" is="" loss="" return="">55 dB. In multimode, insertion loss specification is <0 .30="" and="" db="" is="" loss="" return="">25 dB. The configurable and scalable connector design can accommodate anywhere from 12 fibers to 192 fibers. The simple, but robust hermaphroditic component geometry design, with low part count, can be mated and re-mated reliably with a simple LC-style latch. The performance enables architects and engineers to deploy the technology in multilink data center applications.0>0>

Comcast launched Xfinity Flex, a new service that provides its Xfinity Internet-only customers the ability to use their television and voice control to manage all of the connected devices in their home.

Xfinity Flex offers more than 10,000 online movies and TV shows—including live streaming TV—from ESPN3, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi TV, Cheddar, YouTube, etc. The Xfinity Flex box features an integrated guide and voice control, enabling customers to easily browse and access programming across apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, and Showtime, rent and purchase movies and shows from the digital store, access their digital lockers across platforms by pairing their account with Movies Anywhere, or listen to music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, and XITE. And

“Xfinity Flex will deepen our relationship with a certain segment of our Internet customers and provide them with real value,” said Matt Strauss, Executive Vice President, Xfinity Services for Comcast Cable. “For just five dollars a month, we can offer these customers an affordable, flexible, and differentiated platform that includes thousands of free movies and shows for online streaming, an integrated guide for accessing their favorite apps and connected home devices, and the ease of navigating and managing all of it with our voice remote.”

T-Mobile US is piloting a fixed Internet home service delivered over its LTE network.

T-Mobile is inviting a limited group of T-Mobile customers in rural and underserved to test the service.

The T-Mobile Home Internet fixed service expects to deliver speeds of around 50 Mbps. The pilot service is priced at $50 per month and has no data cap.

T-Mobile said that due to LTE network and spectrum capacity constraints, the pilot is limited by invitation-only to existing customers in specific areas, with the goal of reaching 50,000 households by the end of the year – or slightly less than 0.04% of U.S. households.

If T-Mobile’s pending merger with Sprint is approved, the company said the New T-Mobile will cover more than half of U.S. households with 5G broadband service – in excess of 100 Mbps – by 2024.

“Two weeks ago, I laid out our plans for home broadband with the New T-Mobile. Now, we’re already hard at work building toward that future,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “We’re walking the walk and laying the foundation for a world where we can take the fight to Big Cable on behalf of consumers and offer real choice, competition and savings to Americans nationwide.”

Broadcom has begun sampling a new family of automotive multilayer Ethernet switches designed for time-sensitive networking (TSN) requirements of autonomous and connected vehicles. In addition, Broadcom has begun shipping production quantities of its automotive 1000BASE-T1 PHY transceiver device for Gigabit Ethernet on single-pair UTP cables for in-car networking applications.

Broadcom said its new BCM8956X switches, which are offered in various port configurations with and with integrated 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 PHYs, allow customers to have scalable and cost-effective designs for automotive gateway, ADAS and infotainment applications.

Broadcom's BCM8988X is a 1000BASE-T1 PHY with integrated BroadR-Secure functionality, which authenticates each packet transmitted and received on either end of the link using secure keys. The company said its BCM8988X has undergone rigorous IEEE 802.3bp compliance testing by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The device has passed critical IEEE 802.3bp PHY compliance requirements test for which Broadcom is sharing the test reports with its lead customers. The BCM8988x 1000BASE-T1 PHY incorporates DSP and AFE technology, enabling superior EMC and EMI performance, fast link-up time, low power consumption and robust signal integrity over UTP cables.

"With the availability of Broadcom’s industry leading secure multilayer switch and Gigabit PHY, automotive manufacturers can now design and build a gamut of Gigabit Ethernet systems to address high speed secure networking applications,” said Ali Abaye, senior director of marketing for the Physical Layer Products Division at Broadcom. “As vehicles become increasingly advanced, Broadcom continues to spearhead high speed Automotive Ethernet developments to support secure networks to proliferate new applications such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving."